Drought in US wheat areas provokes Dust Bowl talk

Weather forecasts offer little relief from drought for a US winter wheat crop which data overnight showed deteriorating further to a fresh seasonal low, and prompting comparisons to the Dust Bowl years.

“No important rain is expected this week” for the US areas, largely in the Plains, growing hard red winter wheat, which accounts for more than half the US wheat crop, Gail Martell at Martell Crop Projections said.

Nor is precipitation expected further ahead, with weather service WxRisk.com saying that while a cold front in the six-to-10 day outlook “could bring portions of the upper Plains a decent snow fall, areas south of this LOW’s track will stay dry and mild.

And heading into December “while the Upper Plains and Midwest look to turn seasonally cold, the pattern does not show a cold air getting into any portion of the central and lower Plains,” WxRisk.com said.

Longer-term, the US Climate Prediction Center said last week that this summer’s US drought, billed as the worst in 56 years, would persist in the Plains and parts of the Midwest at least until February, likely spreading into Texas too.